Managing a business is not easy, it can consume most of your time. Perhaps that's the reason why not many who own a business are able to invest their time in learning Google Ads. A lack of understanding of the basics results in making mistakes with ad campaigns that harm their businesses.

To combat this, I've compiled the top 5 Google Ads mistakes that I've seen businesses make time and time again. Let's jump right in!

Mistake #1: Not Tracking Quality Scores

Tracking Quality Scores is an integral part of running an ad campaign successfully. Before we talk further about it, let’s first understand what Quality Score is and what it depends on.

What is Quality Score?

It’s Google’s way of rating the relevance and quality of your keywords and PPC ads. This score determines how much you pay per click (CPC: Cost per click).

What does Quality Score depend on?

• Landing page quality and relevance.
• The relevance of your ad text.
• Your click-through rate (CTR).
• Your Google Ads account performance in the past.
• The relevance of each keyword to its ad group.

Now that we have that out of the way let’s have a look at one of the most common mistakes that you can save yourself from. Quality Score can have a direct impact on your revenue. It’s easy to miss a sudden drop in the Quality Score of a high converting keyword. Missing this drop can cause the CPA to rise which in turn gets your bids lowered by the bidding system. This is bad news for you because that high converting keyword will suddenly go missing.

I understand that spotting changes in trends can be tricky, especially if you’re new. It can feel overwhelming when you have thousands of keywords and ad groups. If you feel too caught up, you can talk to a pro for free to figure out what’s killing your business.

Mistake #2: Not Understanding Profit Margins

Let’s talk about Profit Margins because a lot of businesses get confused with what it really is. Profit Margins are used by businesses as indicators of a company’s financial health management’s skill and growth potential. Advertisers must understand their profit margins to measure the performance of their campaign and optimize them accordingly.

While there are different types of profit margin, the most important one is the net profit margin. It is a company’s bottom line, after taking out all the other expenses.

How to approach Profit Margins?

How, you ask? Well, here are a few tips you should bear in mind on how to approach Profit Margins:

• Figure out exactly how much you can afford to spend on a lead.
• Try to understand the percentage of leads converted to sales by your team.
• To understand the Average Net Profit Per Customer, use this formula: Average Number of Transactions + Average Order Value + Gross Profit Margin - (Marketing Costs + Operating Cost)
• Calculate your target return on ad spend (ROAS) that you need and categorize it by product or service category. You can then optimise your Google Ads bidding strategies and aim towards achieving the outcomes you desire.

Mistake #3: Not Setting Up Conversions

A common Google Ads mistake that I see a lot of people make is not setting up conversions for sales so that return on investment can be measured. Now that we've already discussed profit margins in the previous point, figure out the profit margin for each of your products or services so that you can set the right price per click saving you money.

How to set up conversions?

If you don’t know how to set up conversions, here are the steps that you can follow to set up conversions:

• Sign in to your Google Ads account.
• In the upper right corner of your account, click the tools icon.
• Under Measurement, click Conversions.
• Click the name of the conversion action you’d like to change.
• Click Edit settings.
• Click Value. Select how to track the value these conversions have to your business.
• Click Save.
• Click Done.

If learning the “Fundamentals of Google Ads” sounds like a great idea to you, here’s how you can learn all about it in an in-depth, FREE course offered by Google Skillshop. You can take this course at your preferred pace. You can even get a certificate for the course if you score well on the test!

Mistake #4: Missing Ad Extensions

The mistake of missing Ad Extensions is more common than you might think. A seasoned professional knows the importance of ad extensions. Let’s take a quick look at what Ad Extensions are.

What are Ad Extensions?

To reach the right customers on Google Ads, your ad needs to be informative relevant and engaging. This is where ad extensions can be helpful. This feature shows additional business information, like an address, store ratings, phone number or more webpage links which makes it more likely for people to choose your business. The best part is that there is no extra fee to use them.

Ad Extensions are crucial for online ads. if you haven’t already, make sure that you start implementing them in your ads, it is a great way to bring in more conversions. Beware, it's easy to overdo them. Keep it simple and as the name suggests, works as an "extension" of your ad.

Mistake #5: Not Using Negative Keywords

Using Negative Keywords could help your ad campaign to reach the right audience and increase the chances of conversion. Let me explain what negative keywords are, how they work and how to use them.

What are Negative Keywords?

A negative keyword is a type of keyword that can prevent your ad from showing specific search terms. Negative keywords can help your ads reach the most interested customers which can lead to a reduced cost and an increased return on investment (ROI).

How do Negative Keywords work?

When choosing negative keywords, pick words that are similar to your keywords but unrelated to your product or service. Let’s say you have a pet supply store but you don’t offer pet grooming service. By adding the word “grooming” as a negative keyword, you will prevent your ad from showing to people who are searching for pet grooming services.

How to add Negative Keywords?

Here is a quick step-by-step guide from Google Support to adding Negative Keywords to your campaign:

• Sign in to your Google Ads account.
• Select Keywords and Targeting > Keywords, Negative.
• Click Add negative keyword and select Ad group negative keyword or Campaign negative keyword.
• If prompted, select the destination for the new negative keyword and click OK.
• Enter the negative keyword in the edit panel.

We all make mistakes but what matters is that we learn from them and get better. I hope this guide helped you recognize the mistakes you've been making and helps you to avoid them in future.

If you'd like to work with an expert, book a free of cost consultation today.